Impact of Foreign Players in IPL 2023: Conway to Pathirana – Check Out The Top Overseas Performers

There were several players from overseas that starred for their franchises with bat and ball, while there were some big name foreign players that failed to live up to their billing during the bygone IPL 2023, which was won by Chennai Super Kings.

CSK led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni defeated defending champions Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 Final by 5 wickets (DLS method) to lift a record equalling fifth title. The champion side didn’t feature many individual award winners as they won the title as a collective unit.

While several players stepped up for CSK in their quest for the title, there were two outstanding contributions from overseas stars for the Yellow Brigade. Devon Conway and Matheesha Pathirana made it into to the top 10 performers list for the season.

The Orange Cap (Most Runs) and Purple Cap (Most Wickets) went in the way of Gujarat Titans as Shubman Gill and Mohammed Shami landed the respective awards. In fact, the top 10 run-getters of the season featured 7 Indian players, while the top 10 wicket-takers featured 8 Indian players.

CSK’s New Zealand opener Conway finished third in the overall list and second for most runs in the season behind Royal Challengers Bangalore’s South African Faf Du Plessis.

Apart from these two, only the consistent Australian opener and Delhi Capitals skipper David Warner, made it into the top 10 as he added to his most fifties record in IPL.

This season’s first hundred was also scored by a foreign star in Harry Brook, but the expensive English batter failed to live up to his price tag for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Only three of 12 hundreds this season were scored by foreign players.

The other hundred by an overseas star in IPL 2023 was also scored by a SRH player as South Africa wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen smashed a 49-ball hundred and also ended up as the fifth highest overseas run-scorer in the season.

Klaasen finished behind Mumbai Indians’ Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who was the only player to live up to the hype and the price tag as he performed both with bat and ball. He also smashed a hundred during the season.

Lucknow Super Giants’ Marcus Stoinis, Kyle Mayers and Nicholas Pooran also stepped up with the bat, while Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler, who won the Orange Cap last season, had a disappointing outing as he registered 5 ducks. Here is a look at the most runs scored by foreign players.

Top 10 Most Runs By Foreign Players In IPL 2023

Going by the above stats, LSG and RCB have seen the most impact from foreign players with Bangalore duo Du Plessis and Maxwell contributing crucial fifties and, Stoinis and Pooran playing match-winning knocks for Lucknow in run chases.

While those were the overseas batters that dominated during the season, GT’s Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan and CSK’s Sri Lanka pacer Pathirana were the only two foreign bowlers to finish inside to the overall top 10 wicket-takers list this season.

Rashid also claimed a hattrick during the season and missed out on the Purple Cap to teammate Shami by just one wicket. Pathirana, on the other hand, was deadly in the death for Dhoni’s CSK.

Apart from those two, Rashid’s compatriot and GT teammate Noor Ahmad also stepped up along with LSG pacer Naveen Ul Haq as well as Mark Wood, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Ellis were also among the top overseas wicket-takers for the season.

Top 10 Most Wickets By Foreign Players In IPL 2023

As mentioned earlier, Rashid claimed a hattrick and had a huge impact for GT along with his compatriot Noor Ahmad, while LSG’s Mark Wood was the only overseas bowler to take a 5-wicket hauld during the season.